By Philip Giraldi
American Conservative, September 3, 2012: Israel’s attempt to steer American foreign policy has been nowhere more evident than in the sustained campaign to move the United States in the direction of war with Iran, a war that serves no American interest unless one believes that Tehran is willing to spend billions of dollars to develop a nuclear weapon only to hand off the result to a terrorist group.
The most recent overtures by the Israeli government have pushed the United States to make a declaration that negotiations with Iran have failed and will not be continued. For Israel, this is a necessary first step towards an American military intervention, as failed negotiations mean there is no way out of the impasse but by war, if the Iranians do not unilaterally concede on every disputed point.
Two recent op-eds have elaborated the argument, promoting the necessity of convincing the Israelis that the United States is absolutely serious about using military force against Iran if the Iranians seek to retain any capacity to enrich uranium. One might note in passing that this new red line, sometimes also called the abstract “capability” to create a nuclear weapon, has been achieved by moving the goal posts back considerably. At one time Iran was threatened with a military response if it actually acquired a nuclear weapon (which is still the official position of the Obama administration), but earlier benchmarks within that policy saying that enrichment should not exceed 20 percent or that the enrichment should not take place on Iranian soil have been abandoned in favor of what now amounts to zero tolerance. Those who note that Iran, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is under IAEA inspection, has a clear legal right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes have been ignored in favor of those who believe that Iran is somehow a special case.
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Only a few days after this post was published, so much has happened in Israel related to Netanyahu's policy of whipping up war fever over Iran. We still do not know whether or not he really intends to start a war, for the war fever is of immense personal benefit to him regardless of what Iran may do. But Americans should now all be watching the public debate in Israel very closely.
ReplyDeleteRising concern within the Israeli intelligence community would be consistent with the hypothesis that Netanyahu is truly considering starting a war against Iran rather than just exploiting high tensions for political purposes. Or, perhaps he is playing his cards so close to his chest, in an effort to scare—if not the Iranians—at least pliable members of the U.S. Congress, that he his undermining support within his own increasingly worried administration. In the event, while Netanyahu is claiming that Israeli national security requires that he be able to govern in secrecy, at least one of his own ministers evidently feels that Israeli national security requires that Netanyahu’s behavior be exposed for judgment by the Israeli people. Meanwhile, Netanyahu, increasingly shrill and attacking former and current Israeli military-intelligence officials harder than he attacks Iran, appears unbalanced. And that should worry all of us.
William deB. Mills
http://shadowedforest1000.wordpress.com/